This is my first race report so a quick background might be in order.  A friend of mine Joel, in July of 2006, told me that it was really difficult to get into the Ironman Lake Placid race as it gets sold out right away.  I took it as a challenge and got up early in the morning on July 24, 2006 and was lucky enough to signup for it.   I didn’t have a background in triathlons.  I didn’t even know what they were.  After signing up for the race I went for my first outdoor run (I used to run on a treadmill).  I bought my first bike in August of 2006.  Joel took be on a hill and showed me how to use my gears.  On September 19 2006 I participated in my first triathlon. It was the Mighty Hampton.  Two weeks latter I participated in my second tri, which was a half-ironman distance race, the Epic and rainy mighty Montauk of 2006.   After this race Cliff took over and started coaching me.  My goal was to finish my first Ironman distance race and get the medal.  I finished my first IM LP in 12:13:31. 

Lake Placid race day: Small rain, big rain, thick rain, sideways rain. 

It was still dark when I woke up at 4:30 AM on Sunday July 20, 2008.  I woke up Cliff even though I was trying to be as quiet as possible .  He was amazing enough to be there for me and the other tristar athletes.  I ate my two cliff bars.  I wanted to eat the beef Jerky sitting on the side table but I remembered the wise words of Cliff, “no food with fiber before the race”.  That sucks I told myself – anyway – went to the rest room (very important), stretched (equally important), and got ready for the race.  I don’t know why but I was in an amazingly happy mood this morning.  I wasn’t scared or tensed about the race, which is very unusual.  I kept on telling myself that it’s going to be an adventures day.  Dam I couldn’t believe it, I was actually looking forward to the race. 

Well we got to the swim start (Joel, Janine, and me.  Thanks Bobby for driving and Cliff for dropping off the special needs bags). The sky was cloudy and I could feel some rain drops.  Athletes were getting in the water.  I waited until fifteen minutes before the start to get in the water and warm up.  The warm up was nothing more than running into people, after every few strokes, and stopping and turning around and starting again.  Before the start I got myself close to the front and waited for the cannon to go off.  Baaaaaaaaaaaang!  We were off.  Well the first thing I remember is a girl climbing on my back.  I thought, what the hell is going on.  We are seconds into the race and someone is already taking advantage of me.  Good my girlfriend wasn’t there or she might suspect something.  In all seriousness it was a painful swim.  Last year I was hit a few times, during the swim, but this year was the worst.  I think I was raped at least 5 to 6 times (As a lawyer I take these things seriously and I will be pressing charges against these violators).  I was hit on my goggles a couple of times.  Hit on my head and chest more than what I would like to remember.  My goal for the next year is to be the fastest swimmer at the IM (or take a taser gun in the water as a backup).  During the swim I felt I had a lot to give but it was hard to pass people. Most of them were in groups and crowed around the magic yellow line (which I was also trying to follow).  Came out of the water with a lot of energy.  Had a cramp in my left calf (when a volunteer was yanking off my wetsuit).  This is the second year I had a cramp after the swim, but this year I know why.  While getting my suit taken off I point my toes too much, which overstretches my calf.

Bike ride was fun.  I loved the weather.  It was nice and rainy.  The Keene Valley down hill was probably the scariest thing I have done in a while (well not as scary as when I went off the cliff in Lake Tahoe while skiing).  I have hit 54 MPH on this downhill but with today’s wet conditions I was taking it a bit slower – 47 MPH.  I nearly crashed twice but I guess someone up there doesn’t want me yet.  During the second loop of the bike course I was screaming with the spectators.  I lost my voice by the time I got to the run.  But it was a lot of FUN.  Got off the bike with a lot of energy and felt fresh (Thanks cliff again – great training).  I lost my gel flasks and my electrolyte pills during the bike ride but I was able to eat the gels from the aid stations and get my nutrition in.

Run was fun and comfortable (I know I can’t believe it myself).  I ran within my training limits.  Cliff told me to take it easy and that’s what I did.  Ate on the course said hello to other runners and spectators (my throat is still recovering).  Last year I remember having to walk through all the aid stations and the hills.  This year I was able to run the whole course and even pass a few people.  When I got to the oval stadium I sprinted the last 200 meters.  Cliff was on the other side of the line.  The first thing I told him was, I can do more.  AND that is what I hope I can do in the future.  Do more of these amazing races.  Other triathletes have told me that they compete in ironman to push their limits or to test themselves.  For me it’s a daylong adventure where anything can happen.  You can feel good or you can feel crappy.  You can have the fastest and the best race of your life or the slowest and still the best race of your life.  You can meet people who help motivate you or some real a—holes.  But who cares at the end.  YOU.  OR maybe another Ironman.  It’s all about creating a few memories for when we won’t be able to do this anymore (Right?). 

Thanks for putting up with my race report.   Time to recover and look forward to the next adventure. 

At the end of the day I know that I have managed to live more in one day than most people do in a lifetime, honestly Going down a steep hill with tight turns in your underwear – as they described it on the Tour de France – at over 47 MPH with pouring rain.  Whoooow!  Final race time 10:39:51.

Quick thanks to some important people in my life - 

Thanks a loooot Cliff for the incredible coaching.  You coached me amazingly well and most importantly got me to the start line healthy.  Thanks Cliff and Maha for motivating me during the tough training schedule (while I was working full time, attending college full time to complete my LLM, and attending weekly French cooking classes).  Thanks mom for helping me gain 20 1bs this year   Thanks Maha for making sure that I ate healthy and lost those 20 lbs in two months.  Thanks Nadim for pushing me to continue with my Ironman dreams, as I wouldn’t be able to continue without his help.  Thanks to Joel for being a great workout partner. 

PS.  Didn’t need to "relieve" myself while on the bike or while running.  I stopped and took my time to enjoy the scenery and take care of business.  My humble advice respect your bike and shorts

Congratulations John, Chris, and Natalie for running speedy 5K! 


Place R  No. C NAME                       City                 St Ag S FIVEK  Pace
===== = ==== = ========================== ==================== == == = ===== =====
   1. R  235 3 Antonio Blas               NEW YORK             NY 23 M 16:34  5:20
   2. R  194 3 Glen Carnes                                     NY 40 M 17:09  5:32
  3. R 39 3 Jonathan Farnham NEW YORK 30 M 17:15 5:33
   4. R  204 3 Angel Rojas                HAMPTON BAYS            22 M 17:29  5:38
   5. R  234 3 Victor Manue Garcia Garcia                      NY 43 M 18:12  5:52
   6. R  193 3 J.J Kenny                                       NY 35 M 18:13  5:52
   7. R  223 3 Paul Mascali               MANHASSET            NY 56 M 18:36  6:00
   8. R  352 3 Peter Lambert                                   IL 40 M 18:50  6:04
   9. R  502 3 Lee Fredette                                       25 M 18:57  6:06
  10. R  225 3 Bill Reed                  HAMPTON BAYS         NY 38 M 18:59  6:07
  11. R  381 3 Doug Milano                                        24 M 19:07  6:10
  12. R  127 3 Andy Powell                MARCELLUS               35 M 19:08  6:10
  13. R   89 3 Dylan McAllister           QUOGUE                  14 M 19:16  6:12
  14. R  232 3 Laura Brown                WHB                  NY 40 F 19:22  6:14
  15. R   33 3 Charles Edel               REMSENBURG              29 M 19:24  6:15
  16. R  254 3 Jorge Flores               EH                   NY 37 M 19:30  6:17
  17. R 322 3 Chris MiCulis NEW YORK NY 33 M 19:50 6:23
  18. R  282 3 Steven Lutz                MELVILLE                41 M 19:53  6:24
  19. R  241 3 David Sumwalt              WHB                     29 M 20:05  6:28
  20. R  242 3 Lauren Lariola             SHELTER ISLAND       NY 26 F 20:06  6:29

324. R 309 3 Natalie AntoinetteNEW YORK NY 29 F 36:35 11:47

Scott Harrison takes on Musselman Half Iron and the wet conditions to net another top age group performance.  Whilst this was just another "training day" Scott makes it look easy with a big smile.  Scott rode strong and really made a dent in his age group with the sixth fastest run split in his AG.  Way to go Scott!
                

Congratulations Scott!!!

TriStar Athlete Tim Walton shares his Eagleman race report;

Swim - 35:34 (333/907)
 
This was about as good as I thought I could do and is faster than any ‘proper’ 1500m swim that I’ve had. As far as I am aware, this is the only time in a swim I’ve managed to keep cranking it out without doing breast-stroke around the buoys / when I get run over by someone else. As I said, I know that I messed up the 2nd side of the triangle: that seemed to be into the current and I didn’t realize how many buoys there were (= I didn’t just stick my head down and grind it out). On several occasions I was able to pick the pace up without suffering. I’m fairly sure I can go faster than this: my hands were not always going in at the right angle (=I couldn’t see them!) and so I wasn’t as efficient with the stroke as I’ve been before. Still it was an enjoyable swim and as I was coming down the back straight, I was contemplating how I would be able to handle a second lap.

Bike – 2:28:31 (113 / 907)
 
Compared to the field, I think that this was my worst bike since my first race! I don’t think that I have ever been outside the top 10% of bike times. Usually I’m inside 5%. However, it was a very controlled piece of riding. I kept my eyes glued on my HR. I split the race into 30min blocks, for each section the AHR were 150/151/151/152/151. Each time it ticked up to 155, I slowed down until it went to <150 (Z3 = 140-157). My cadence was really low. I spent most of the race on the 12 or 13 (70-75 cadence). I took it really easy for the first 15 mins (think I rode 5 miles) until my avg HR for that section was down to 155. At the various points that I needed to get past people, it was easy for me to wind it up to 25/26mph. I felt that I had plenty of gas in the tank and didn’t overheat. Again, I felt that the interval work really helped.
During the ride I took enduralite every 20 mins (10,30,50…), a GU every 40 mins (40, 80, 120). I drank 3 bottles of diluted accelerate / Gatorade, and for the last 30mins, substituted a GU with a bottle of full strength (= 2cups) accelerate.

Run – 2:06:26 (285 / 907)

This went exactly as I thought! I knew that mile 1 would be easy, miles 2/3 would hurt my feet / shins, mile 4 I would get going, mile 7/8 would suck. I had a wet towel around my neck which I filled with ice / water at each station. This was key to keeping me cool. There was a big difference running back when we were running into the sun and I could feel myself overheating. After the first 4 miles I had to walk through each station, chug down some Pepsi and get going again. I was feeling pretty good, and with the Enduralites, had no sign of cramp. At the turn, the sun really started to kick in. I could feel myself running out of gas too: and the small GU that I had at mile 7ish when they only had diet pepsi(why?) caused all sorts of problems. From then on it was a bit of a slog, but each time I got moving, I was actually feeling OK. At the end of the day, I didn’t have any expectation on the run, other than to get around. There’s definitely some work to do here!!!
Given the success of the enduralite, the gatorate that I had at the first 4 stations was probably useless – I should have had Pepsi.

Transitions Swim/Bike (3:44 – 333/907) Bike/Run (4:54  - 686/907)
Yes these were unbelievably slow, but I’m not fussed. I took time to douse myself in sunscreen and on the bike/run properly stretch off my hamstrings / ankles / got to the bathroom / have a chat to the officials. I thought that it was good to get my heart rate right down so I didn’t start overheating as soon as I got moving..

Overall
At the previous day’s expo, the pros were doing a q+a. One of them said that on these long races, it never goes according to plan. I’ll actually disagree with that: it pretty much did.

TW


congratulations Tim on a great race.  Solid performance on a tough TOUGH day.  Great swim, strong bike and run!  ~Coach Cliff

Cambridge, MD

 

The excitement for my first big race steadily built all week so when the last thing I read at work before leaving for Maryland was "first dangerous heat wave of summer strikes Northeast" I was even more excited to see how well I prepared over the last few months.  Eagleman here I come!

 4:45 Sunday morning came quickly after a few hours of excited sleep.  My team (read: super-supportive family) and I hurried to the car after I had my two energy bar breakfast.  At the start the announcement came the water was a balmy 77 degrees.  I was in the second wave and warmed up without my wetsuit.  This swim leg has scared me as I am a weak swimmer and have been concerned about the 1:15 swim cutoff.  Three weeks before at an Olympic distance race in Harriman State park I swam half of the Eagleman distance in 30 minutes.  Using this as an indication of my ability and factoring in the tidal river (vs. calm lake) I was seriously worried that a bad day could stop me from even reaching the bike.  Luckily Coach Cliff answered my frantic call early Sunday after the Olympic for some swimming lessons.  One hour session in the pool with less than 3 weeks until race day and tons of drills later here I am in the water at the start of my big race.  Nervous is an understatement!

 The swim started with the normal fighting for position (or trying to get out of the way in my case).  A few strokes in I reminded myself this is just a drill and focused on that.  44 minutes later I emerged from the water ready for the bike.  (A PR by at least 16 minutes).

 The bike course was flat and hot.  I religiously took the salt pills (thanks again Cliff) and took a bottle of fluids at every aide station in addition to my nutrition plan.  I felt great but wanted to make sure to save myself for the run and not hammer too hard.  I finished the bike in 2:35 (21.6 mph) and felt strong heading to the run.

  

The switch to running went well and I plugged along hoping to do a negative split.  At this point I looked at my watch and realized a sub-6 finish was in the realm of possibility assuming I didn’t blow up.  The heat was now much worse (mid 90s) with no breeze or shade to be found.  Other athletes that beat me to the run seemed to be slowing down and baking on the pavement.  I still felt good and pushed on.  Around the halfway point I picked up my pace and brought it home for a 1:49 run time and a 5:17:46 overall (20/63 AG 254/1382 overall).  I had even more fun than I had expected and am officially hooked to long course triathlon.  I capped off the weekend with a tasty pasta meal and some awesome carrot cake courtesy of the friendly volunteers.  Thank you Cliff for the first 16+ minutes; I’m ready for the next 16!

 Matt Chappell

Escape from Alcatraz Race Report
by Brian Maiolo

       


This past Sunday I did the Alcatraz Triathlon. Technically speaking i think Alcatraz did me due to a brutal work schedule, but I digress.  Normally I scrutinize every element of my pre-race plan. In this race, I found myself on Saturday night wondering what time the race was on Sunday. I’ve been racing competitively for the past few years so this was fresh territory.

To understand the type of shape I’m in, let’s take a look at my last two weeks of training. I logged in 4 workouts. Total. In two weeks. Last year I had many many weeks over 20 hours and couple weeks over 30. There were a couple of all nighters at work and many nights till almost midnight. I’ve done exactly two speed work sessions and one hill work section. Yes, this was going to be ugly.

                       

I had considered bailing on the race but decided to go and try to enjoy it. Try to enjoy what makes this race so different. Worry less about time. And more about having a weekend off from work in beautiful San Francisco with my girlfriend.

You start this race just off Alcatraz Island. You jump off the ferry cause it’s too rocky to start on the actual island. I was “racing” with my friend Biff Capune who is preparing for Couer d’Laine IM. We were about to jump off the pier and I had just lost the argument that he should take his wool socks off. Oh well.

Turns out Biff is no dummy. The swim was a bit rough. It’s more like trying to swim across a swift moving river than an open water swim. However, once out of the San Francisco Bay, you have an 800 meter run to the transition area to grab your bike. There is an option to leave a bag with sneakers, but I figured why complicated things. Next time I’ll take things a little more complicated and a little easier on the feet. Or I’ll swim and run to the bike transition in wool socks like Biff.

The bike section is rather hilly with some tight turns, a couple narrow sections and some rough pavement. I tried to push the bike, probably more than my fitness level warranted, but one of my goals for the last two years has been to push the bike more and depend less on the run. Ah, the run.

The run started and there were four or five runners around me who were running like they had either stolen something or it was a 5k. I looked down at my race bib…yup, it was an 8 mile run. An 8 mile hilly run, with a sand section and a sand ladder. Right along the argument of “it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity” is the “it’s not the hills that kill you, it’s the downhills.” As tough as the infamous sand ladder was, flying down the trails takes a serious toll on the legs. As my co-workers will attest to as I hobble around the office today.

All in all it was a great day. I got a chance to do a race I’ve always wanted to do. I didn’t stress too much leading up to the race. I finished a respectable 84 out of nearly 2,000 athletes. And I’m really looking forward to training more and pulling fewer all nighters at work. Oh, and there’s an In and Out Burger in San Fran. Yum!

Scott Harrison, CT based age group stud from Connecticut shares his most recent race at the Boston Marathon.

What has been your boston experience and how did you approach the race this time around?

 

  "I have run Boston 15 times. This time I changed my training by not only running up lots of hills, which I always did, but hammering down those same hills. As a result, I did not suffer the usual crushing quad pain the last few miles. I was able to walk down stairs not only on the day after the race but the second day. "

How did it go?

 

"Clearly something worked this time. This was one of the better times in many years. I ran first 13 miles comfortably, passed lots of people, ran next 7 comfortably hard, passed more people, and hammered (as best I could) last 6. I was 5 minutes faster than last year and felt better at end. Doesn't get much better than that. I did wear HRM. Spent entire race in TZ2 M / H. In my case, these are the two zones below AT. "

Thanks for the report,where will you be next?

"...See you at the Rockies. Btw, that is the most comfortable jersey I have ever worn."

~SCOTT HARRISON